Documents, such as banknotes (e.g., paper money, plastic money, etc.), checks, legal-related documents, or any other type of document, may need to be processed or analyzed for a wide variety of purposes. Guide systems may be employed to guide or position a document while it is being processed or analyzed. Such guide systems may be used in conjunction with machines that move documents through a series of processing steps using, e.g., belts, rings, rollers, or other means of moving a document. However, currently available document guide systems may fail to properly position or flatten a document, thus decreasing the effectiveness of its processing or analysis capabilities. For example, current document guide systems may fail to properly flatten or straighten a document against a surface to minimize folds, wrinkles, or waviness that may adversely affect document processing or analysis. Also, the shape or size of some current document guide systems may be inappropriate for placement in certain locations within a document processing machine, thus limiting the ability of those current systems from being employed in current document processing machines. Indeed, these and other issues have limited the effectiveness of some current document guide systems.